Motorola Atrix 2 (AT&T Wireless) Review

Motorola Atrix 2 (AT&T Wireless) Review

Motorola's Atrix 2 represents one of a handful of devices that take advantage of AT&T's latest and greatest 4G network. The first thing you'll notice about the Atrix 2 is its 4.3-inch qHD display. It's big -- and bright. The next thing you'll notice is its speed. Powered by a 1GHz dual-core processor, the Atrix 2 has no issues in the power department. So the Atrix 2 is fast, has a great display and runs on AT&T's newest network -- what's not to like? Read on to find out.

Design: The Atrix 2 design is basic, but functional. It is not quite as large as Motorola's Droid X or the HTC Thunderbolt, but it is by no means a small handset. On the front you'll find capacitive nav buttons, a VGA camera (for video calls) and a small chrome speaker grill. On the back, a 8MP camera is positioned snugly next to a single LED flash. The back-plate is constructed of lightweight plastic and its slightly rubberized finish makes the Atrix 2 easy to grip. Pull the plate off to access the MicroSD card or battery and you'll find it is quite flimsy, but thankfully when it is attached to the phone you won't notice. The overall look won't be winning any design awards, but it gets the job done and is mostly pleasing to the eye.

Display: The 4.3-inch Super AMOLED display is what we have come to know and love from Motorola's recent handsets. It's large, highly saturated and the capacitive multi-touch works well. The display may just be the best thing about the Atrix 2.

Speed: The dual-core processor has no trouble running Gingerbread. It handles with grace everything you throw at it, from HD video playback to turn-by-turn navigation. There was no lag whatsoever when interacting with the OS. Motorola's new dual-core handsets are FAST.

ZumoCast: Video, Audio, and Photos can all be streamed from your PC or Mac using the included ZumoCast app. After signing up for a free account and downloading the software to your PC the Atrix 2 can playback all your multimedia files. The only shortfall we found: video playback can only be accomplished over Wi-Fi. Given this is a 4G LTE handset, we see no reason to limit this functionally to a Wi-Fi Connection.

What We Didn't Like:

Camera: The 8-Megapixel camera is nothing special by today's smartphone standards. For starters, the field of view is quite limited. This means you need to stand much farther back from what you're taking a photo of to get it all in frame. When we were finally able to properly compose our shot, the end product left a lot to be desired. Most shots were slightly blurred and very grainy when looked at larger on a computer screen. To top that off, the autofocus is sporadic and a while the dedicated shutter button is a nice touch, it's not easily depressed. If being able to snap high quality photos is very important to you, look elsewhere.

Limited Storage: Out of the box, the Atrix 2 only comes with 10GB of combined storage (8GB internal; 2GB MicroSD). While a card upgrade won't break the bank, we would have liked to see Motorola ship the phone with at least 16GB of storage.

Our Verdict:

Overall, the Atrix 2 is a capable addition to AT&T's 4G network. It's well designed, fast, and has a beautiful display. It's not the sexiest phone in world, but on the other hand, it's not at all unattractive. Battery life was as expected, call quality on AT&T was very good, and data speeds were great. The ZumoCast feature is very interesting and as Motorola improves upon the software, it will only get better. The Achilles heel of the Atrix 2 was its mediocre camera -- but for many, this will not be a big issue. Bottom line: The Motorola Atrix 2 won't be turning any heads, but it gets the job done.